DVUSD – What’s for lunch? That’s a question Cave Creek resident Shanon Quinn has to plan for and answer daily for not only herself and her family, but the 18,000 students in the Deer Valley Unified School District who purchase meals every day. As the district’s dietician, or more formally, the food and nutrition coordinator, she creates a menu within the federal nutrition guidelines to be implemented at the schools.

Quinn oversees 37 kitchens across the 367 square miles served by DVUSD to ensure adherence to the menu and overall food safety. She also plans alternative meal options for vegetarians and students on special diets. Site visits, completing production worksheets, monitoring the meal tracker system, preparing annual bids for food, and crisis management fill up her daily schedule in gluttonous fashion.

The dietician occasionally spends time in the classroom teaching nutrition. After spending all year satisfying student hunger, she told The Desert Advocate what sates her appetite.

TDA: What’s your favorite dish?

SQ: I probably should say something nutritious, shouldn’t I? But I really like Mexican food.

TDA: What kind?

SQ: Probably tacos. Shredded beef. I guess flour tortillas, but sometimes at Mexican restaurants they make it crunchy.

TDA: What’s your guilty food pleasure?

SQ: My guilty food pleasure is cookies.

TDA: What kind?

SQ: Chocolate chip or if you want to get really technical, the sugar cookies at Paradise Bakery (& Café). Have you ever had those?

TDA: No, but I’ve recently discovered a love for sugar cookies myself. What are three staple items in your fridge?

SQ: Well, definitely milk. Yogurt and cheese. That’s probably bad, but oh well.

TDA: In your freezer?

SQ: There’s always frozen chicken in there, ice cream and frozen veggies that I get from Costco.

TDA: In your pantry?

SQ: Cereal. Cheerios, only because of my daughter. Soup–usually chicken noodle or chicken dumpling, crackers.

TDA: What Valley eating establishment do you recommend?

SQ: El Encanto (Mexican Café in Cave Creek). I don’t know if I recommend it, but I go there all the time.

(A brief pause ensues while Quinn orders two cheese and two pepperoni pizzas for summer school students at Deer Valley High School)

TDA: What’s the most difficult word that you use pertaining to school nutrition and what does it mean?

SQ: Phenylketonuria (or PKU). Phenylalanine is the acid that they (some students) can’t break down. It’s a strictly inherited disorder that can be helped with a strict diet free of phenylalanine.

TDA: How does the district support nutritional eating habits?

SQ: We provide menus that are within the American Dietary Guidelines and we make available the ability for students to get fresh fruits and vegetables every day. We provide them with a low‑fat milk choice. And we try to incorporate nutritional education wherever we can.

TDA: What does the district offer vegetarians and other special dieters?

SQ: Basically, what we have is your standard cheese crisps. We purchased a veggie burger. It’s available on request although hardly anybody requests it. Some salads. Cheese pizza and yogurt.

TDA: What kind of option are teachers offered?

SQ: There are a lot of things we have for teachers. It just depends on the school and that food service manager (who prepares their meals). They’re very creative. They might have Mexican there one day. They have a deli bar.

TDA: I know that your department is self‑funded so your revenues must match your costs. What’s your average daily revenue?

SQ: I know we hit $10 million in sales for the 2005‑2006 school year. I know how many meals we serve a day. We serve 18,000 lunches per day and about 1,500 breakfasts.

TDA: What’s the most popular item in the cafeteria?

SQ: Pizza (cheese).

TDA: What’s the least popular item?

SQ: Probably enchiladas (cheese).

TDA: What do you do with leftovers?

SQ: All hot (food) usually gets thrown away, but cold (food), if it’s stored at the proper temperature, might be able to be reused the next day. But most of the time, it’s gone. They do pretty good on their usage.

TDA: Kids tend to search for something to eat over the summer as a cure for boredom. What do you recommend they grab that’s quick, easy, nutritious and kid‑pleasing?

SQ: Well, peanut butter and apples are always good because you’re getting in fruit and a protein. What’s easy is those pushable yogurts, smoothies. You can put in all sorts of fruits and yogurt in there and they think they’re getting something special.

Reach the reporter at ambria@thedesertadvocate.com.